Teachers comments

[Icloud54]

My son still attends school, general conversation today about a teacher who is covering his class.
He asked the teacher to help with his shoe lace-she said no because she was 'marking'
She also tells the children she is invisible which means they can't talk to her or ask her questions- basically puts herself in 'invisible' mode throughout the day.
Aibu to be annoyed by this?

Son is 7

Its worth noting that subject coordinators and those with other responsibilities get 20% off

I'm secondary and even subject leads in our place don't get this much time! Primary is notoriously worse, most teachers are subject leads for something at primary.

Just buy velcro fastening shoes for school.
If the teacher had to tie every little boys shoe laces when will she have time to teach.

Its worth noting that subject coordinators and those with other responsibilities get 20% off

This is just nonsense.

I doubt of someone actually needed her she'd ignore them, or that they're being set work at 9 am and then ignore til 3 or that they're running fetal unsupervised because she's invisible.

Sounds like it's a tactic to get the kids to sit and work independently whilst she marks online work

@spanieleyes

My colleague has a tiara. If she's wearing it the children know she is working with a group or an individual and she is not to be disturbed!

She's my kind of teacher 👸

If he’s over 5, teach him to tie laces. Unless a child has a problem they’re perfectly capable of doing it from reception age.

Unless she's actively ignoring the children, I don't think she is doing anything wrong.
Teachers aren't there to tie your children's shoelaces, they're there to teach them & make sure they're safe, so as long as she's doing her job YABU to be annoyed at her.

On the shoe lace thing, I wouldn't send a child to school with laces if they weren't able to tie them by themselves.

I don't think it's fair on the teacher.

I think it's tough either way! Doesn't sound ideal but 7 year olds are renowned for their tale telling lol. Maybe spend this weekend practicing with his laces? I think my youngest learned around then.

I tie laces all the time at work (dinner lady). I'd rather that than they trip over and hurt themselves.

I know you've conceded yabu, but crikey, there's a lot wrong with your post. 'Marking' in quote marks. What do you mean? Attending to the majority of the class at home rather than your pfb? Secondly, needing other people to point out that maybe you shouldn't send your son in in clothes he needs people to get right up close to him to fix.

The teacher in question is not your personal nanny or babysitter. She’s got the work to do and sometimes she needs to concentrate, hence she says she’s busy. Same with parents. Sometimes they need to make a work call or concentrate on something important so asking children to go and play. Teachers are responsible to work for those who’s homeschooling too.

I used to loathe non-uniform days as half the kids would turn up in fancy trainers with long, trailing laces and none of them would be able to tie the blooming things by themselves. I could never understand how parents could be bothered with all that tying and untying. Multiplied by 20 odd kids it was a total pain. And agree with poster above, no teacher wants to tie soggy laces when it's not even raining.

20% subject time?! Where is this unicorn school?

When I’m working through my lunch break marking and sorting stuff for lessons or I’m in class during my PPA I tell children that I am invisible because I’m having non contact time and have things to do. The children eat lunch in the classroom at the moment so there is nowhere to escape!

Oooh, I'm subject lead for 3 subjects - does that mean I can have 40%? I'm not even getting PPA time at the moment.

Good decision to get velcro shoes OP. I remember when mine were little I felt somehow a failure that my kids found laces hard and they wore velcro shoes. It turned out that the majority, even in Y6, had velcro!

Thanks for the input, I've concluded IWBU, going to buy some Velcro shoes.

Good on you OP

Thanks for the input, I've concluded IWBU, going to buy some Velcro shoes

Sainsbury’s ones last as long as Clarks ☺️

I am a teacher, and when a child asks me to tie their lace, I always tell them they have to try first and talk them through it before jumping in to help.
As for invisible mode, I have done this before when I’ve been on my lunch and the children have been in for wet play. I will tell the children ‘I am invisible, Mrs X is here for the class now.’ I never do this if there’s not another adult in the room who is in charge at that time. This is also so I don’t undermine the member of staff in charge. Maybe it was a similar situation?

Why should the teacher be doing your child’s laces up? She has things to do. I feel so sorry for teachers at the moment!

Children usually outgrown velcro shoes at your son's age, op.

Teach him to tie his laces, he'll soon pick it up. His teacher should not have to be doing that for a seven year old, assuming he doesn't have special needs. There are some laces that are better at staying tied up than others, like the silky, 'nylony' ones.

Having said that, (my son who is an independent chap of 31), learned how to tie laces, dress etc from a very early age but came home from school regularly with laces untied and his jumper on inside out or back to front (wouldn't surprise me if he still does sometimes and as for his hair....... A born scruffball).

dd had severe dyspraxia (statemented) BUT she learnt how tie the 2 bows together in a knot by that stage - I think you should practice with him, the most important thing for dc as they go into school is to learn how to dress themselves.

Yep. Teachers can't take their planning time in the staffroom etc now. In many schools they're confined to their classroom during PPA, breaks and lunch so are having to work alongside the children and the adult in charge.
So if the TA is being responsible for the class at the time the teacher is taking their PPA time or doing online learning in a corner of the room , it's absolutely sensible to use the term 'invisible' so that the TA is not undermined and the children know who to go to.

Cheers for acknowledging that YWBU, OP. Good luck finding the shoes.

Also, kids often ask questions before engaging their brains. Where's the pencil? It's right in front of them. What are we doing? Read the instructions on the board.